


There's Blood Lust and Then There's Blood Love

by NovakSunshine



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Blood Drinking, Blood Sharing, F/M, Falling In Love, Happy Ending, Love, Lust, Soul Bond, Soulmates, Vampire Elena, Vampire Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-24 21:18:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6167176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovakSunshine/pseuds/NovakSunshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elena's a vampire. She never wanted this, she never wanted to be a monster - especially one like Damon. But once she's turned she discovers she is much more like Damon than she thought. The girl she once was is dead and everything is different.</p><p>Veering off course from the start of season 4, Elena can only feed from her boyfriend's brother who just so happens to be completely infatuated with her, even more so now she's a vampire too.</p><p>*All spelling/gramma and tense errors are now fixed! (Sorry)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Although I've tagged Elena/Stefan there isn't any real romantic relationship between them at this point but they are still together (technically).

Nothing is working. Everything is falling apart. And how can she tell Stefan? The animal blood, the blood bags, Elena just can’t keep any if it down. She is starving, starving but smiling at Stefan like nothing is wrong because he is so joyful that things are going well. The way that he looks at her, like she is the sun and stars and made of gold. That look of adoration and worship that she used to treasure, that used to send her heart soaring was beginning to feel suffocating. The thought of being a disappointment and a monster is too much for Elena to bare, she can't do this to Stefan. She can’t burden him with this, his own issues with human blood, it is too much to risk, too much to ask. 

The Salvatore Boarding House feels like home to Elena, as she sits on Stefan’s bed she tries to listen for him, but hears nothing. Still listening for Stefan’s return she raises her phone to her ear as it rings to Damon’s answer phone. She takes a deep, slow breath and pauses to strain in hearing her boyfriend approaching return, but there is nothing but a faint clunking far away. 

“Damon, you were right. I can’t talk right now but I’m having some… Some teething issues. Call me back, please?” She disconnects the call and feels a rush of guilt and relief hit her simultaneously. It's better this way, she nods to herself. There is no need for Stefan to worry, no need for him to be unhappy, no need for him to get near human blood even if this means that she has too. It is for the best. It is. After champagne and smiles with Stefan, Elena makes an excuse to get away, she needs to find Damon and she knows the first place to look.

***

Elena enters the Mystic Grill, heading straight to the bar where Damon sits with a glass in his hand. 

“Didn’t you get my message?” Elena questions with urgency, going to sit next to him.

“Ah, ah, not there.” Damon waves his drink around and nods his head to his other side. Elena sighs and moves around.

“I’ve been busy being accused of murder actually.” He states and takes a swing of bourbon. Elena takes a seat on his right side and explains that she can’t feed. Damon finishes his drink while listening intensely, his face changing with every word she says. When she stops he starts,

“You know, there is one other thing we could try. Come with me.” Damon’s voice is laced with both concern and seriousness and Elena allows herself to be dragged into the Mystic Grill’s restroom without resistance. Once he’s locked the door she rushes over her words,

“What else is there Damon? I can’t stomach Stefan’s diet and I can’t keep down blood bags! I can’t feed from someone, I can’t hurt anyone, I can’t… I can’t-” Damon cuts off her rambling by shushing her softly with his fingertips gently touching her face. 

"There's one more thing we can try." He repeats, gazing deeply into her eyes with a meaning she can’t figure out. Confusion sets in her expression, she begins to shake her head, because, what's happening? Damon’s hand is still against her cheek, his thumb moving across her jaw slowly. 

“You need warm blood, from the vein. I fed this morning, I didn’t kill anyone – before you freak out – I compelled them to forget. There’s no reason you can’t get what you need from another vampire, from me.” He speaks with such reason but Elena takes a step away from him, his hand drops to his side. 

“Elena if you can feed from me you won’t ever have to hurt a living, breathing, human being. You wont ever even have to risk it.”

The thought of never having to hurt anyone, never having even the slightest chance of hurting anyone, it was more than she had ever hoped for. The thought makes her dizzy with hope. 

“I’ll never have to hurt anyone?” She repeats, disbelief and wishful thinking thick in her voice. Damon’s nodding his head with empathy, his expression is pure compassion and understanding,

“I didn’t want this, remember? I didn’t want to feed on people when I turned, the thought was repulsive. I know how you feel Elena, do you trust me?” 

“You really think this could work?” 

Damon closes the gap between them and says, 

“It will work,” and pauses before, “just don’t tell Stefan.”

“Why not?” Elena asks, why can't she tell Stefan if she has found a way not to hurt anyone?

Damon looks thoughtful and slightly pained for a moment,

“Because blood sharing between vampires is kind of… Intimate.” He finishes bluntly but continues quickly, “When this works we can talk about telling him then, okay?”

Everything sounds so well thought through when Damon speaks, maybe it’s the fierce conviction his pretty blue eyes give everything he says. Before Elena can think anymore Daman draws out his fangs and bites into his own palm, blood pooling up to the surface. Elena can smell the human blood and can’t control the hunger that overwhelms her. In an instant her eyes are glowing bright red, her veins are crackling and crawling beneath her skin and her fangs are out and sinking into Damon’s hand. The divine taste fills Elena’s mouth, the smell is so intoxicating, with both hands she clutches Damon’s arm like her life depends on it. She feels the earth move as she gulps down the blood from his veins, her back is now pressed up to his chest, his back is pressed up to the wall. She can feel everything, his chest rising and falling against her body, his free hand in her hair encouraging her to continue. She can feel her body awaken in a way she didn’t know was possible, pleasure shoots through her veins and everything she felt before was dull, her senses heighten and the world seems to come into focus, into full colour.

As the immediate hunger in her is sated she becomes more aware again, she feels like a new person, stronger, more powerful. With this new revelation Elena whirls around faster than she ever thought was possible and sinks her fangs into Damon’s neck, her arms wrapping around his shoulders, her hands in his hair trying to get impossibly closer as his arms hold her flush to his body, feeling like one with two hearts. Slowly she begins to gain back her self-control. She feels hyper aware of her lips against her boyfriend’s brothers neck, how he is holding her with one hand tangled up in her hair and the other on her hip, fingertips spreading out on her bare skin where her shirt has risen up. With strength and speed she isn't used to having she flings herself away from Damon, her back hitting the row of sinks behind her. They stand there, opposite one another, him leaning heavily against the wall trying to get his thoughts in order after the high of having Elena feed from him. It was nothing like he had ever felt before, the sensation had rolled from the bite in his hand through his veins to spark complete pleasure in every cell of his body. He feels exhausted and drunk, lust clouds his eyes as he watches her. Elena can’t take her eyes off of him, she can’t figure out what has just happened. That feeling of euphoria, of total bliss and excitement was unlike anything she had felt in her human or new vampire life. She wants more. 

Damon collets himself first, he stands up straighter and wipes the blood from his neck with his hand as he says,

“You see? You don’t feel sick, right?” 

Elena blinks a few times before she can find any words to answer,

“I…” Is all she can manage. Damon strides over to her, cradles her face in both hands and searches her eyes. 

“Elena?” His touch feels like more than she can handle.

“It feels different… I feel different, you feel different.” She manages to get out, starting to panic slightly. Damon gently shushes her again, petting her hair reassuringly,

“It’s okay, that is just your body at full strength because you’ve fed. You haven’t been able to feel that yet because your body hasn’t accepted any blood. This is normal, Elena, that feeling that you can do anything.” Damon watches her, and God does she look beautiful with his blood still on her lips. Elena can’t concentrate with his hands still on her face, it’s making her head fuzzy and she doesn’t want to know why, admit why.

“I have to go find Stefan.” She bolts and he doesn’t stop her, she’s outside when she hears him say, 

“Don’t tell him, Elena.” And it sounds as if he was whispering it in he ear.

***

Elena finds herself back at the Boarding House, she calls for Stefan before she quite reaches the door, and she can hear him moving inside so clearly. She can almost picture him. She tries to stay calm but her body feels like it is running on overdrive. Then Stefan is in font of her,

“Hey, are you okay?” He asks, reaching for her hand, leading her into the house. They sit on the sofa by the unlit fire, him still waiting for an answer.

“Stefan, I can feel everything. I can hear further, I can smell where there’s blood and alcohol in parts of the house I don’t think I’ve ever even been to, I feel like the whole world has suddenly flicked a switch and I can see it in colour. And touch, I feel like my skin is vibrating Stefan, it’s overwhelming.” Elena tells him truthfully. Stefan watches and listens to her with all of his attention, it makes her feel scrutinised.

“I can even feel you looking at me!” She whines with slight desperation. Stefan knows that feeling, after that first feed when everything feels so much more alive than when your human heart was beating, the power that comes with feeding is like nothing else. He chuckles slightly and then can’t quite stop himself from laughing because now she can feel everything he has been feeling when they are together, when they kiss, touch, when they make love. She is about to feel the way he has been feeling for years and it is exciting! The physical intensity you can feel when you’re a vampire when being intimate is incredible. 

“Elena this is totally normal, your body is adjusting. This is a good thing.” He smiles, “You feel overwhelmed right now but that is just because it's all new. You will get used to it, but your heightened strength and senses will still be that powerful.” Stefan explains rationally. Elena nods, okay, it is normal, it is okay. She is going to be oaky.

“I wonder why it’s only now that you’re feeling this, and not from the first moment you fed? Maybe Damon was right about your doppelgänger blood in some way?” Stefan ponders, always so thoughtful but right now Elena feels nothing but spite towards his thoughtfulness, she doesn’t want to think about Damon. She stays silent and hopes he won’t press the issue. 

“You know what this means, right?” Stefan edges closer to her with a smile in his eyes. Elena shakes her head. Stefan isn’t touching her yet but he might as well be, she can feel the energy pouring from him, the heat from his body all around her. He kisses her ever so sweetly, letting her get used to the feeling, not touching her anywhere else so she can focus and feel good at her own pace. Elena can feel his kiss like it’s the only feeling in the world to be felt, but isn't enough, she is on his lap kissing him hard in less than a heartbeat. Pressing against him trying to get him to ground her, told hold her steady amongst the rip tide current of emotions she is drowning in. But he is soft and gentle with her, hands barely holding, going slow. Even though the kiss feels good it's not enough. Why wasn’t it enough? Kissing Stefan still stirrs heat in her stomach, she growls in frustration and doesn’t realize her fangs are out until Stefan holds her shoulders and says,

“Whoa, it’s okay, it’s okay. Sometimes love, lust and blood lust get confused. It can be a blurry line, especially between lovers." Elena tries to calm herself down as she retracts her vampire teeth.

“I’m sorry.” She apologies, feeling scolded. Has she done something wrong?

“It’s okay.” He says again, running his hands up and down her back trying to soothe her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She begins to hyperventilate, backing up from the two brothers who are tracking her every move. Stefan is reeling from her confession, he can't think past his girlfriend feeding from his brother, he finds himself sitting on her bed, unable to stand with the weight of what he has just heard.

It has been two days since Elena has fed. Actually, it has been two days since she’s seen Damon. She has been spending as much time as she can with Stefan, glued to his side, hoping he can make it all better. The intensity that was like a fire burning in her body has died down considerably, but she is so hungry. She felt her face change earlier when she was close to Matt at school, she immediately backed off, full of apologies but he just smiled sadly and reminded her it was kind of his fault anyway. She tried to stop him blaming himself but he just hugged her tight and told her that he trusted her not to hurt him and that he’d always be there for her. It was all she could do to hold her breath and pray this wasn’t the day she killed her childhood friend in public. Once she gets home from school she goes straight to her room, Stefan is busy and she needs to just sleep for a while, to not feel for a while. It is dark when she wakes up hours later and she still feels worn out. 

"You've been avoiding me." A voice quips from her window. Elena sits up slightly to see Damon lounging on her window seat. He is kneeling at her bedside before she can react,

“Oh, you don’t look so good.” His eyes darting all over her face, “You haven’t feed since the other day at the Grill have you?” 

“No, I'm still trying with animals but I'm sick every time." Elena recounts miserably.

"You didn't tell Stefan?" 

"You told me not to."

"I know, but."

"But nothing Damon, he doesn't drink human blood!"

Damon takes in her words. Stefan doesn’t drink human blood. He didn’t realise it the other day but if Elena won’t drink from humans it will always have to be vampires and that means it will never be Stefan. She will never be able to drink from Stefan like she can from him. At first it was mostly a selfish move on Damon’s part, a way to get closer to her but now it dawns on him that she has to drink from a vampire who has ingested human blood.

"Don't move." He tells her, leaving her alone. She looks into the empty space where he had been and before she can call his name he is back with a blood bag in his hand. She shakes her head,

"I can't drink from blood bags either."

"Maybe you can drink it from me?" Damon suggests, sitting down on her bed. She watches as he skilfully drains the bag with ease and no waste, the smell draws out her fangs and she feels like she is starving. She doesn’t know how it happens but she is drinking from Damon’s neck again, she somehow has him pinned to her bed, her on top of him, drinking hungrily. Then it hits her, hard, the nausea. She is throwing up the blood in her bathroom in an instant. Damon appears behind her, holding her hair and making soft shushing noises. 

“I’ll be right back, it’s going to be okay.” He reassures her before disappearing again. Elena stands up, cleaning the blood away and looks in the mirror. This can’t be happening. What if the only way she can survive is to feed from Damon? Her ringing phone brings her back to reality and she answers it to Stefan,

“Hey Stefan, I was just about to go bed.”

“That’s okay, just… Have you seen Damon? He’s not answering my calls.”

Elena walks back into her room to see Damon back at his place on her window seat watching her with his head tilted slightly to one side, eyebrow raised.

“Actually yes. I have-” Elena admits, maybe they should tell Stefan. At that moment Damon somehow now has her phone and is saying,

"My favourite brother, what can I do for you?” Elena can hear both sides of the conversation as clear as if they were in front of her. 

“Damon? You’re with Elena? Now?” Stefan can’t keep the emotions of his voice, jealously, fear and hurt all present. 

"Yes baby bro, there's actually something we need to tell you, ah, ah, nothing like that. Just a slight new vamp problem that's all."

"What are you talking about? I'm on my way over, don't you dare touch her Damon." Stefan demands, confused why Damon is with Elena so late, in her room when her emotions are heightened and while she’s still finding her feet as a vampire. 

"Elena, can only feed from me." Damon concludes as Stefan appears in her room, pacing to Elena's side checking if she’s okay. 

"Damon wouldn't hurt me." Elena affronts as Stefan almost yells,

"What do you mean she can only feed from you?" Stefan turns to face Elena square, "You fed from him?" He looks so hurt, Elena feels like crying. 

"You're upsetting her." Damon warns making a move to approach her. 

“Stay where you Damon, don’t come anywhere near her. What did you do to her? What did he do you? Did he make you feed from him?” Stefan growls at his brother but tries to soften his voice when he asks Elena what he hopes isn’t true. Elena can’t help it, she is so tired, so hungry, her head is pounding and her stomach is still churning. She starts crying, her arms around her middle trying to hold it all together as she attempts to explain,

“Stefan I… I’m so sorry, you were just so happy that I was drinking animal blood and I was too, happy, because you were. I haven’t been able to keep any of it down though, it tastes foul and makes me sick, I was starving and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to ruin anything, I didn’t want you to be disappointed, I didn’t want to let you down. I didn’t want you to have to be around human blood even if I have to. So I called Damon, and he thought that I could feed from another vampire who had ingested warm human blood straight from the vein, that I would never have to hurt anyone and it worked, I wasn’t sick and now I don’t know what to do and I’m sorry Stefan, I’m sorry I kept this from you but…” She pauses to breathe and cry a little harder, she can’t do this. 

“I can’t do this.” Elena speaks through tears, “I never wanted this. I can’t be a vampire. I can’t do this. I should have died… On that bridge like I was meant to.” She begins to hyperventilate, backing up from the two brothers who are tracking her every move. Stefan is reeling from her confession, he can't think past his girlfriend feeding from his brother, he finds himself sitting on her bed, unable to stand with the weight of what he has just heard. 

“No, no, no, no. That’s not true Elena.” Damon takes her into his arms, uncaring that Stefan is in the room. “You’re going to be okay, it is all going to be okay. Right Stefan?” Stefan can't move, can't talk, how has this happened? He looks at Elena sobbing into Damon’s chest, leaning into him like all the support she could ever need was in his brother. She knew she could count on Damon but she couldn’t count on him, her ripper boyfriend with blood addiction issues. He can't be what she needs because of who he is, and he can't change that, she can't rely on him or feed from him. 

“Stefan?” Damon hisses, “Tell her it’s okay.” The warning in Damon’s voice is crystal clear and somehow it snaps Stefan out of it.

“Elena of course it’s going to be okay,” Stefan says without knowing if it is a lie, 

“You’re here, with me.” He stands up, takes her hand and pulls her away from his brother and towards himself. He sits back down on the edge of her bed with her standing in front him, she's searching in his eyes for something real, for comfort. Stefan swallows hard and continues,

“We’ll figure this out. I love you Elena, I’d do anything for you. If the only way we can be together is for you to feed from another vampire then I don’t care.” He feels the bitterness of the lie in his mouth but she starts nodding slightly and begins to stop crying so he forces a smile and says, “We’ll get though this, together.”

Once Elena had calmed down and Stefan had told her again and again that everything was going to be okay, he left her alone with Damon despite every bone in his body telling him not to. He couldn’t watch that, he couldn’t be in the same room while the love of his life fed from his brother, who knew what it meant and loved Elena too in his own psychotic way. So he ran and wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to stop. 

Damon looks at Elena, she is tucked in her bed staring out her window that Stefan left from. Her eyes are unfocused and she is barely breathing and even though she doesn’t need to, it worries him. Damon moves slowly around her room and carefully lies down next to her, putting himself between her and the window. Her eyes shift and land on his. Time passes and the silence grows, eventually Elena turns away from him. Cautiously, Damon turns with her, sliding his arm under her head so his forearm can rest against her lips with one movement. They are almost spooning apart from how they aren’t really touching at all. Damon flexes his arm, clenching and releasing his hand from a fist, Elena can almost taste the blood in her mouth as it rushes beneath his skin. She wraps her hand around his wrist and brings his arm to her lips, she pierces his skin lazily, too worn out to do much else and drinks slowly but hungrily. 

“Good girl.” Damon purrs in her ear, groaning slightly as she moves closer to him, lost in the blood lust. Their bodies move together, slow and tantalising. Damon struggles to control his own lust, he is lost in the feeling of her body squirming into his. He can’t hold back, he cant. His hand wonders down her side and he kisses her shoulder just once. Elena can’t stop the moan that escapes her mouth as she feels Damon’s kiss on her skin and Damon can’t stop himself as he hears that noise he has been dreaming about for years. Her body is alive with the fresh blood in her system, she rolls over to face him, barely seeing through the lust. 

“Elena-” Damon starts,

“Don’t.” Elena stops him and finds herself straddling him, she pulls him up to meet her and they are so close they’re breathing each others air. Damon lets out a growl and nudges his head against hers, foreheads together. 

“Please tell me to stop.” Damon begs her, he can’t do this but he can’t stop either.

“I can’t.” Elena breathes and as soon as the words have left her mouth she’s underneath him, his knees are either side of her hips and his hands press her wrists into her bed. Elena feels her eyes close, for the first time since she transitioned she feels still, grounded, safe. With Damon’s hands holding her down and his weight heavy, low on her hips, her head felt clearer than ever. All she could see in that moment was how gorgeous he looked leaning over her, his mouth open, a blush in the pale skin of his cheeks, his perfect blue eyes focused solely on her, the way his dark hair fell on his forehead and curled around his ears. All she could feel was his body, his heat, his power. With one hand pinning her wrists down Damon brings his free hand to Elena’s face, his fingers touching her lips with want. She barely realises how her hips are rolling just a bit against her reason for living. As he runs his nails gently but firmly down her throat she concludes that she can do this, she is glad she didn’t die on that bridge, she is so grateful that Damon’s blood kept her alive. 

“Thank you.” She says quietly, meaning it with every fibre in her body. Damon’s face changes, suddenly his features soften and his brows come together. He lets go of her hands and rolls gracefully to lie down next to her. She looks at him like he is everything and he feels something bursting at the seams in his chest. They don’t say another word as the night carries on and they both fall asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elena breathes a sigh of relief at the break in tension and nods with her arms crossed over her middle, shifting around from one foot to the other. Stefan looks conflicted. Elena wonders if she has unknowingly already lost him.

Damon walks through the door and is met with Stefan standing up from the sofa, coming towards him fists clenched and jaw tight. Damon doesn’t say a thing because he knows Stefan needs to say it.

“How could you? How could you do this to me? To her? Damon you remember what it’s like when you first change and everything is too much, how makes you feel crazy, don’t you? Because that is how she is feeling right now and you're messing with her head!” 

Damon stands still as Stefan speaks with whole body, hands waving, 

“What happened last night? Why are you only coming home now? How is this happening Damon… Why is this happening...” Stefan’s voice breaks and he backs up to sofa sitting down heavily shaking his head in his hands. 

“Brother, I am sorry.” Damon is pouring himself a drink and making a noise about it, slamming around the bottles and glass and then slamming his fist on the table-top. He continues between swigs of bourbon,

“I really mean this Stefan, I don’t want this either. Elena didn’t choose me, she choose you. I don’t want to be reminded of that every day but I don’t want her to starve either.” There isanger in each word. 

“Why did she come to you?” Stefan asks, pained and not really wanting to hear an answer.

“Because I’m bad and I’m disappointing and you can’t let down someone who is a let down.” Damon states, his hands busy with the bottle and glass once again. Stefan thinks he understands, Elena didn’t want to let him down. He put too much pressure on her and too much hope in the animal blood.

“This is my fault.” Stefan decides, “Tell her I’m sorry, please?” Damon purses his lips and pulls a face, 

“Tell her yourself Stefan, she’s your girlfriend. Epic love and all.” Bitterness is clear in his voice but Stefan takes his hands away from his head and stands up. 

“Who else do we know?” Stefan asks, Damon doesn’t hold back his groan of disapproval,

“Maybe Katherine will come feed Elena? You know, she stills owes us for the whole getting shot by our Father thing!” 

“Seriously Damon, I know you would do anything for her but so would I. I know it’s still a sensitive subject but you and Elena blood sharing for the rest of eternity? I don’t think I can handle that.” 

“I think it’s only me brother, it was my blood that turned her, I’m the only one.” 

“How? How do you know that? We have to try, maybe Caroline could…”

Damon sets down his drink and walks over to Stefan, putting his hands on his younger brother’s shoulder firmly and looks in his eyes,

“I don’t know how to explain it but when she feed from me, I just knew. I’m the only one.”

Stefan stays silent. 

“Why did you tell her last night that it was okay if it’s not?” Damon argues pushing slightly as he lets go of Stefan’s shoulders.

“Because you told me to, and I could see she was falling apart. I don’t want her to regret becoming a vampire, or to feel so lost and miserable she turns off her emotions. I want her to have everything she wants forever but…”

“We need to get her over here.” Damon decides. Stefan doesn’t know if that is what they need to do or not but he knows he wants to see Elena so he doesn’t stop Damon from calling her. 

The three of them are there, in the Salvatore Boarding House. Elena stands nearest the door with Stefan and Damon sitting on opposite sofas in front of her, both watching her and making her want to run, why did she come? Damon is the first to speak,

“Apart from the obvious elephant in the room, are you okay?”

Elena breathes a sigh of relief at the break in tension and nods with her arms crossed over her middle, shifting around from one foot to the other. Stefan looks conflicted. Elena wonders if she has unknowingly already lost him. Damon joins her in looking at Stefan, trying to urge him to voice some of the thoughts banging around in his brain but Stefan can’t find the words. Damon decides if anything is going to get sorted he is the one who is going to have to fix it. 

“Elena, would you try and drink from Stefan? We do need to see if it’s only me.” Elena tries to stop her eyes from going wide and Damon stands up, drags his brother to his feet and beckons Elena to them. 

“Even if it doesn’t work.” Damon nods encouragingly but him and Elena share the thought at the same time, it isn’t going to work. Damon takes his seat back on the sofa and tries to stop himself from stopping it before it starts. Stefan looks at the girl he loves in front of him, so lost and finding no direction in anyone but Damon. Stefan runs his hand through her hair softly and keeps it there, his fingers cradling her face so softly, his wrist near her fangs. Elena tries so hard not to look at Damon but fails, he is tense and his eyes are burning with a fire she can’t decipher but he is still and silent. Elena looks back at Stefan and he smiles a smile that shows anything but happiness. Then she bites. Damon looks up at the ceiling and breathes very, very slowly. Stefan gets his breath taken away and almost stumbles under the weight of what is happening, it feels amazing. And then Elena is outside the front door on her knees heaving up blood everywhere before either brother can collect himself. Elena comes back inside looking a little grey and even more lost than she did before. Stefan feels the anger bubbling in his veins, the feeling of upmost betrayal crawls in his skin, she can’t feed from him, and she never can. Which leaves Damon. Which leaves Damon who reveals in his younger brother's misery, who has been trying to seduce Elena never since he returned to Mystic Falls. Stefan is so angry, he needs to know. He needs to see it for himself. 

“Feed from him. Now” 

Everyone looks up at the same time. It is Stefan that has spoken. Damon looks at Stefan with a strained expression while Elena looks at Damon desperately, she doesn’t want Stefan to see her like that, so up close and personal with Damon. 

“If the two of you have ever had any love or respect for me.” Stefan bites out, looking between his girlfriend and his brother with fierceness, he doesn’t realise the veins beneath his eyes are crawling, red seeping into his eyes. Elena is scared but somehow she can feel Damon calming her down without even making eye contact. Elena approaches Damon and he stops her with a hand on her shoulder, it looks like a calming gesture but he is holding her tight with a lot a strength, effectively keeping her at arms length while looking supportive. He holds out his other arm and doesn’t have to say another word. Elena’s fangs are back inside his veins and he feels her body clamouring to get closer to him, but he is older and stronger than her and holds her steadily away from him. Damon is very careful in not giving into the soul bonding sensation that spreads from his arm to his heart and to every drop of blood in his body. He keeps still and steady but Elena is fighting hard now to get herself up against him so he squeezes even harder on her shoulder, enough to shatter human bone twice over. Elena feels Damon’s fingers digging into her, it feels like he is under her skin, touching more than just the surface but her muscle and bones and soul. 

“Starting to get a little dizzy here Elena.” Damon says in his typical Damon fashion, flippant and bored-sounding, in way that covers the warning behind it. Stefan watches as she lets go, licks her lips and tucks her fangs away. She looks the same, just a little more vibrant from the feed. It wasn’t what he imagined at all. Usually blood sharing between vampires is full of lust, crazed by the blood lust, all getting rolled into one, something reserved for the closest of lovers who had known each other for centuries. Stefan had actually never done it himself, but he had heard rumours about what could happen. He knows that his brother of all people wouldn’t have the self-restraint to hold back, especially with Elena, from getting caught up in the moment but Damon had barely shown any emotion at all through the whole thing. Maybe this can work. 

***

Weeks pass Elena by in the blink of an eye, being immortal really does change your perspective of time. She tries to monopolise Stefan’s every moment but he seems to be busy a lot, she finds herself at the Salvatore Boarding House anyway, it's starting to feel more like home every week that passes. She doesn’t have to pretend like she does at home with Jeremy and though she misses him on occasion he is occupied with his job at the grill and spending time with Bonnie and Matt. Ever since she fed from Damon in front of Stefan things have changed between her and Damon, and perhaps between her and Stefan too. Elena feels that although she has been a vampire for less than two months she is really feeling more like herself all the time, which in turn means she is riddled with guilt over how lost in blood lust she let herself get with Damon. Now she really only feeds from him when Stefan is in the room, or at least in the house. Damon remains as steady as stone even in her moments of weakness and she feels such gratitude for that but she doesn’t know how to thank you. The look in his eyes straight after makes her feel like she doesn’t need to say thank you at all but she still feels like she owes him so much. It helps they have a distraction, there is some kind of vampire hunter in town, asking questions and putting everyone a little on edge. Elena wonders if this is the reason why Stefan has been so distant but she doesn’t say anything and neither does he. 

The first time it happens Elena is fast asleep in her room. She feels like someone is saying her name in the distance but it also feels like a dream that she’s too far into to do anything about it. A second passes and suddenly she is sat up, scanning her room because Damon’s voice is echoing in her head, shouting her name, then nothing. Elena pushes her hair from her face trying to figure out what just happened, was she dreaming about Damon? Before she can add another thought to her question her vision blurs and she can see a familiar forest clearing out by the old Lockwood Property swimming in and out of focus melded in the scene of her bedroom. Then, someone… The hunter? The hunter is looming towards her with, what is that? A syringe? She’s scrambling away from what she sees in front of her until her back is against the wall and then she knows. Damon is in trouble. She runs as fast as she ever has and knocks out the hunter with an elbow to the temple. Momentum rolls through her body and she falls in front of Damon who is bound to a remaining concrete structure from the ruins. He is barely conscious, groaning low with pain, his head hanging while still helplessly pulling against the ropes and chain. Elena doesn’t know what to do, she simply freezes at the sight of him in so much pain. Mustering all the energy he can find left, Damon raises his head slightly and groans,

“Something sharp… The ropes… Vervain…” He manages and Elena is already slicing the ropes away with a jagged rock. She breaks the chains away with her hands and tries pulling him up but he can’t stand, even with her help.

‘Damon?” She kneels in front of him, hands on both sides of his face as he struggles to stay up on his own knees, swaying dangerously.

“I can’t carry you Damon, you’re too heavy. Come on, please?” Elena tries again but he collapses into her and doesn’t seem to have any strength left to kneel anymore. Elena leans forwards, still attempting to hold him up in some way and grabs the rock she cut the vervain laced ropes with. She opens up her wrist with it and pushes it against Damon’s mouth as she holds his head up. Before the cut can heal he is sinking his vampire teeth in and swallowing her blood. He feels it on his tongue, tasting like heaven, it slides down the back of his throat heating up his veins, dulling the pain of all the vervain the hunter has pumped him with. The pain is soon replaced with pleasure though and his eyes snap open, bright with the blood. He stops himself from drinking any more, aware that Elena can’t really afford to give up her blood for him. 

“Thank you.” Damon breathes and he lets himself be cradled against her, feeling weak is not something he indulges in often but he has to admit that it feels quite comforting and actually pretty human to let Elena coddle him. She is stroking his hair and his cheek alternatively. He doesn’t realise his eyes are closed until opens them to the sound and sight of her crying softly. He forces his body to move against protest from every bone in his body, limbs weighing so heavy. He struggles but gets himself and Elena to their feet. He really wants to go home. Damon thinks it must be the vervain but right now in this moment he is so thankful to have his home back in Mystic Falls. 

“Lets go home.” Elena voices his thought and he smiles kindly at her. They walk home side by side through the darkness. Once they reach the front door they both enter, their movements still slow, still coming down from the adrenaline. Stefan wakes up to the sound of someone in his house, he doesn’t panic because it is more than likely Damon but then he hears two people. Stefan rolls over on to his back so he can hear clearly with both ears. The footsteps get further into the distance and he hears a creak and then smells blood, he knows by the footfall that Elena is downstairs with his brother. 

“I’m going to kill that guy.” Damon glowers before draining another blood bag. 

“Are you okay?” Elena asks, she sounds tired and worried. 

“Fine. I’ll be just peachy once I’ve drained the life out of that hunter though.”

Stefan sits up alarmed, the hunter? The hunter that Klaus needs alive if he ever has any hope of finding a cure for vampirism for Elena? 

“I don’t think you should take him on alone Damon, you were almost killed tonight.” She tells him. 

“Wanna be my partner in crime, it involves humans dying Elena, just up your street.” Damon sounds annoyed. 

“I woke up because I heard you say my name.” The words leave Elena’s mouth and Stefan freezes, he can almost feel Damon do the same. 

“What!?” Damon voices Stefan’s thoughts now.

“I was asleep and I heard you say my name, I woke up and it felt like you were calling me but I couldn’t find out where it was coming from. I looked up and I could see the hunter in front of me, above me with a syringe but I was still in bed. I recognised the clearing and I just knew you were in danger.” Elena explains, confusion and question in her voice. There’s a minute of silence and Elena speaks again,

“Why did I know you were danger? How could I possibly know Damon?”

“Go home Elena.” Is all Damon says in return. Stefan hears his brother move through the house and shut himself in his own bedroom. He hears Elena’s footsteps and he thinks time stops as he hears her come to a halt outside Damon’s room. Stefan can hear a clock in his head counting the agonising seconds when he thinks she’s going to enter, but she doesn’t. Instead she finds her way to his room and he’s on his side with his eyes closed before she touches the door handle. He listens as she crosses his room, it seems to take a lifetime but she does lie down next to him. She turns to face his back and buries her head between his shoulder blades, he thinks she might be crying but doesn’t know how to comfort her without letting on that he has been awake since she walked in the door. So instead he stays still and looks at nothing as he tries not to think of anything at all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damon didn't believe in happy endings.

Elena can’t help but feel like this was inevitable. She is sitting on her porch, twilight is approaching slowly and Stefan is being honest with her. He’s telling her how he feels, and how he has felt since she’s become a vampire and honestly she can’t find anything in her to disagree with him. Every thing he is saying is true and she can see it from his point of view as well. He doesn’t see the same girl he fell in love with, he can’t handle the bond she shares with Damon, he has no answer to what he sees as her feeding problem. He tells her that he has heard rumours of vampires who blood share frequently can read each other’s minds, how they can communicate without words and know the way the other is feeling while being far apart. Elena feels numb while he’s talking but it is all making sense at the same time. Stefan says vampires don’t form this kind of mind meld unless they have feelings for each other, Elena finds her voice and tells him she has feelings for Damon but cares about him, Stefan too after all they have been through. Stefan’s face is twisted with pain and his eyes are threating to burst with tears but he keeps it together, he nods and says that he knows but he can’t do it anymore, he can’t be with her while she is torn between him and his brother. Elena says she understands, because really, she does. She gets it. Things haven’t been the same between her and Stefan since she turned but she thought things would change, get back to normal but they haven’t. She supposes now that they never will. 

*** 

Another founder’s day event, it seems like they will never end. Elena wonders briefly how much longer she will have to attend them, seeing as she won’t look any older as the years pass by. She watches Matt dance with April, Caroline standing over the entire affair looking proud, Klaus is here somewhere which makes her uncomfortable but Damon is around too which makes her feel much better. Thinking of Damon she gets a strong hit of nostalgia as their eyes meet, the first time they danced together, the first time she really let herself admit how attractive he was, how attracted she was to him. Damon doesn’t make a move towards her but she knows he remembers too, she sees him smile and for some reason she feels a little giddy. 

Damon’s looking for Elena when he hears Klaus saying her name from somewhere close. He keeps looking for her as he hears the phone conversation between his brother and Klaus. He didn’t know. How didn’t he know? He feels like he should have felt it somehow, that he should have just known but didn’t. Stefan and Elena broke up, and he is the reason why. He feels taken aback by the revelation and decides he needs to get away from the crowds of innocent humans and get his teeth into something a little further away from home. He is laying in the road out by the old bridge when he hears a car stop, he barely registers the snatch, eat, erase routine because his mind is still hazy from what he has discovered earlier that day. He watches the car drive away and makes his way home, unsure how to feel, he feels off kilter, like the earth has moved out of alignment or something equally dramatic. 

Damon doesn’t find that he is surprised to see Elena on the sofa in the parlour, in fact it feels like just what he needs to quell the hurricane of emotions and questions tearing up his head. Reflexively he pours them both a drink and sits next to her, handing her a glass. 

“Stefan and I broke up.”

“I know.”

They both drink and avoid each other’s eyes. 

“The dance,” Elena changes the subject, “that they did today-”

“I know.” Damon repeats, still not looking at her. It reminded him too.

“I wanted to dance with you.” She says.

Their eyes finally meet.

Damon feels like an angel is staring into his soul, his own personal heaven on earth. Elena feels like she’s finally home. Damon stands up, taking her drink and putting it on the side with his, he offers his hand and she takes it. There is something about the way they move together, almost as if they know where the other is going be. Touching Elena feels like he is being allowed to be himself, like he’s come out of hiding and has finally found a place to just be. The notion of the near touch is discarded very quickly and they’re pressed up against one another swaying in time. Elena smiles, ducking her head and Damon feels a grin on his face, he’s happy. He wasn’t sure in reality if he would ever feel this happy again but in this moment nothing could burst their bubble. Elena squeezes his hand in her own, the other around his shoulders, she feels him return the gesture and she feels truly overwhelmed with a feeling she can’t put her finger on. It feels just as intense as when she feeds from him but it is also more than that, she’s not lost in blood lust or indeed even lust. It’s more. Damon knows Elena feels it too but he doesn’t want to say it out loud. She leans her head on his heart and says,

“I love you too Damon Salvatore.”

He pulls back to look in her eyes, disbelief written all over his face because he isn’t the good guy, he doesn’t get to get the girl, he doesn’t get a happy ending. Does he? 

“You are the one person I’ve have always known I can count on. For all of your flaws and for all of mine, none of it matters because when we’re together it feels like my world stops spinning out of control. And I know that this might have started with my blood lust but Damon, I can feel you under my skin and I can hear you in my thoughts.” Elena remembers a while ago when Damon had said,

“No, it’s right Elena, just not right now.” Damon can’t get this stupid smile off his face, he can’t contain his emotions,

“It’s right now Elena!” He shouts with happiness that he didn’t know was possible, he didn’t know he was capable of this feeling. He picks Elena up and spins her around,

“It’s right, now and forever” She says, her legs are wrapped around his waist and her hands clutch his face. Their foreheads meet and Elena lifts his head up with a finger. Damon holds her easily and they stand there for a while just staring starry eyed at each other. Damon laughs because the whole thing is so ridiculous and not like him, but this one girl. She’s his everything. She has been since the day they meet. Then she kisses him. She kisses him and he just doesn’t know what to with himself. He has loved her for years, he has wanted this for so long and now it’s right. It’s right, now! He feels incredibly embarrassed but at the same time he can’t bring himself to care, he lets a few tears escape his eyes because this is too good to be true and he kisses her back. The stars all align and fireworks are going off somewhere Damon is sure of it, he thinks he’s found the answer to all of life’s greatest questions and it’s all right here in his arms. 

They kiss like they’ve been starving for it for a lifetime, hands holding on to each other so tight, never wanting to let go. Damon forgets how to think, completely lost in Elena. With the help of vampirism - Damon is sure they wouldn’t have made it otherwise - they fall onto his bed. He lets himself indulge in all the things he has ever wanted to do to her, he kisses all over her skin and she makes noises that sound like they’re inside of his brain. He doesn’t need to think about it, he just knows all the right places to nip, stroke and worship. Elena can barely breathe, she keeps trying to gain an upper hand but Damon is assaulting her with a passion she can’t keep up with, her head is spinning and it feels incredible to let herself get lost in him. Clothes start coming off, then there is skin on skin and each vampire is stunned by the closeness they feel now they’re touching for real. It happens slowly but they can both feel it. Their consciousness blurs at the edges, a feeling of lightness and content washes over them. They’re left totally blissed out and they don’t need to say it out loud, they’re soul bonding. She can’t control the sounds she makes, he’s inside of her and it’s all she can do to keep her eyes open to look at his perfect face. She tries to lean up on her elbows to kiss him, they both have the same thought at the same, Damon bites into her delicate shoulder and Elena sinks her teeth into his neck as they make love. 

The lines between him and her mix together, they are one. Their souls are bound and minds are perfectly in sync. 

***

Damon really doesn’t believe in happy ending, well. He didn’t. But now the girl he loves is in his arms and in his head and in his soul. Sometimes he still can’t believe that Elena feels the same way he does, but as soon as the thought enters his head he can feel her pushing it away. He never wanted to be the better man and of course he is still a vampire, he still drinks human blood and he still finds enjoyment in the hunt and occasional kill, even though he can feel the eye roll from Elena even if they’re miles apart. But he doesn’t want to be reckless anymore, he doesn’t have that uncontrollable desire to be destructive and monstrous, he feels cured of a curse he didn’t know he had. Elena lies in his lap and can hear everything he is thinking. She doesn’t interfere, just lets herself be soothed by it. He’s thinking about her, about them. She never thought she could survive this, being a vampire. But Damon has truly completed her life, and it is more than that she ever thought was possible. She swears she falls in love with him every time she sees his face, touches his skin, hears his thoughts. She doesn’t know how she got so lucky but she is so happy. 

“I’m happy too.” Damon nuzzles Elena making her giggle in his lap. 

“I love you.” She gazes at him, they smile together and he gently puts his forehead against hers. She hears him say, “I love you too Elena Gilbert” without actually saying anything out loud, she twists around to kiss her soul mate, her lover, her everything. She thanks the blood lust, she bites his neck playfully and thinks, as his blood fills her mouth, no, blood love. Damon pushes her off him and laughs,

“That’s a terrible comparison it doesn’t even make sense!”

“Yeah well, you love me and you can’t make fun of someone who can mess with your head. I’ll make you have that dream about you and Alaric again if laugh at me!”

“You made me have that dream in first place, don’t bring it up! I’ll never live it down if Ric founds out!” Damon warns her with a huge smile, no malice behind the words at all. 

"That’s what I thought.” Elena concludes, lying back down in lap. 

Damon finds Elena’s hand and they share another thought at the same time, forever doesn’t feel like long enough but they’re sure going to love every moment of it together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started out wanting to write this with Damon as a real villain, using his sire bound in dark ways to manipulate and seduce Elena and hurt Stefan but it turns out I'm just a sucker for a love story and a happy ending (sorry Stefan.)
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading as much I did writing :)


End file.
